Latest news with #MRZ
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Keeping Pace with Evolving Security Features: Regula Upgrades the 4306 Comparator for Advanced Forensics
Regula's top-selling video spectral comparator has undergone a major redesign to meet the growing complexity of modern-day document examination. The new modification Regula 4306M incorporates enhanced light sources and a high-resolution camera, ensuring forensic experts can detect even the most intricate protective elements. This upgrade strengthens document examination capabilities across forensic labs, border control points, and law enforcement agencies. RESTON, Va., June 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Regula 4306M boasts a wide spectrum of different light sources, including ones new to this model. Among such light modes are: Newly developed multifunctional coaxial light that enables the visualization of embossing, retroreflective security features, and polycarbonate reliefs. Enhanced Anti-Stokes visualization with long exposure that helps forensic experts to detect previously invisible luminescence details, crucial for examining advanced security elements. Intensified diffused white light source to optimize the visualization of DID (diffractive identification) security elements and OVD (optical variable device) effects that change color or image depending on the angle of observation. "Document examination heavily depends on the quality of visualization. The more accurately a forensic device captures fine details, the more effective the analysis becomes. Elements like microprinting, watermarks, and optically variable features are designed to be difficult to replicate, but nothing is impossible for fraudsters. Without the right visualization techniques, even the most experienced experts may miss critical signs of forgery. That is why we invest so much research and development into constantly upgrading our devices," explains Alex Lewanowicz, Director of Hardware Engineering at Regula. To maximize the examination capabilities, Regula 4306M provides: 60x magnification and up to 18,900 ppi for document images thanks to its custom-designed high-resolution built-in 8 MP camera. 40+ light sources covering even the rarest document examination scenarios. 100% LED-based illumination for precision lighting control. 3D visualization for analyzing surface relief, intersecting strokes, and printing techniques. Large-object examination capabilities, allowing experts to inspect not only identity documents and banknotes, but oversized objects as well. The new Regula 4306M is controlled via Regula Forensic Studio operating software, an out-of-the-box cross-platform solution that facilitates document examination and creates a smooth user experience. Powered by Regula Document Reader SDK, this software makes it possible to fully automate ID authenticity verification: the device can recognize the document type and validate all its data from the MRZ, RFID chip, and barcodes in mere seconds with zero risk of human-related errors. Most importantly, the upgraded Regula 4306M delivers versatile capabilities for in-depth document examination in a space-saving and cost-efficient form, which makes it an affordable solution for any forensic lab. For more information about the capabilities of the redesigned Regula 4306M, visit Regula's official website. About Regula Regula is a global developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions. With our 30+ years of experience in forensic research and the most comprehensive library of document templates in the world, we create breakthrough technologies for document and biometric verification. Our hardware and software solutions allow over 1,000 organizations and 80 border control authorities globally to provide top-notch client service without compromising safety, security, or speed. Regula has been repeatedly named a Representative Vendor in the Gartner® Market Guide for Identity Verification. Learn more at View source version on Contacts Kristina – ks@
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Old Greek ID cards will no longer be valid after August 2026
Amid fierce debate over the new ID cards, a misleading claim began circulating on Greek social media in late April 2025, regarding the validity of the old cards. "I'm telling you again so you don't get suckered in, old IDs NEVER expire," read one viral Facebook post from April 27, 2025, which has been shared more than 700 times since. The same claim was also shared by other Facebook users (for example here and here). "Just as I didn't get a vaccine with so much blackmail, I won't change my ID card," one user wrote in the comments. "It is a public document and there is no expiry date anywhere!" another wrote. However, the claim is misleading. Although the old Greek identity cards do not carry an expiration date, they are valid for only 15 years from the date of issuance, as defined by national law. More importantly, under EU Regulation 2019/1157, these cards will become invalid after August 2026 because they do not meet the required security standards, such as biometric features and machine-readable elements. According to Law 3585 (Government Gazette 148-A), passed on July 5, 2007, the validity period of identity cards for Greek citizens was set at 15 years from the date of issuance. A more recent ministerial decision from 2018 stated that "the validity of identity cards, from the date of their issuance, is set at fifteen (15) years, for persons who have reached the twelfth (12th) year of age". The document states: "An identity card whose validity period has expired shall automatically become invalid". On June 20, 2019, the European Union decided to strengthen the security of ID cards of the EU citizens with the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2019/1157. This regulation stipulates that Member State ID cards that do not have a machine-readable zone, or MRZ, will expire on August 3, 2026. In particular, Article 5 (2a) states that "identity cards which do not meet the minimum security standards set out in part 2 of ICAO document 9303 or which do not include a functional MRZ, as defined in paragraph 3, shall cease to be valid at their expiry or by 3 August 2026, whichever is earlier". The MRZ is a standardised section of a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), such as a passport or ID card, designed to be easily read by optical scanning equipment. It contains essential personal and document-related data encoded in a machine-readable format using the OCR-B typeface, enabling fast and consistent data processing across all countries. In September 2023, the Greek government announced that all Greek citizens would be required to be issued with new identity cards with upgraded security features, including the MRZ. The current Greek ID cards (front side, back side) lack these enhancements. The Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection said in a press release that the MRZ was not a new technology, but the "line of information code that we see today on all Greek passports". The Ministry said that in July 2023 Greece had received a new warning letter from the European Union for its non-compliance with the regulation. The new ID cards also incorporate an electronic storage medium, which includes a photograph of the holder in digital format, the MRZ data, two fingerprints, the surnames of the father and mother, the municipality of registration, the demographic number, and the place of issue. The expiration date is also clearly stated in the card. According to the Government Gazette 824/B/17-2-2023, the validity period of the new ID cards is set at 10 years for persons over 12 years of age. Opposition to the new ID cards and personal number has been strong across the country due to what critics saw as a move towards a surveillance society (archived here). Strong reactions have come from orthodox and conservative circles, including the far-right political party Niki, which describe the new ID cards as "Citizen surveillance". Kyriakos Velopoulos, leader of the nationalist political party Greek Solution whose claims have previously been debunked by AFP (for example here, here and here), has also opposed the new ID cards and the personal number. In 2023, another Greek fact-checking organisation debunked a misleading claim about the new ID cards, also spread by Velopoulos. On September 9, 2023, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis dismissed circulating claims about the new ID cards, insisting that they contain "neither chips" nor "cameras, microphones, various other euphemisms that are heard". According to data published by the newspaper "Kathimerini", "more than 1.2 million new identity cards have been issued" between September 25, 2023, when the process of issuing the new type of ID cards began, and December 13, 2024. In Greece, the personal number -- an essential identifier for verifying individuals' identities in transactions with public sector entities -- has been made a mandatory feature of the new identity cards, as established by article 11 of Law 4727/2020 and formalised by the Presidential Decree issued on May 5, 2025 (Greek Official Gazette A'/67/5-5-2025).
